Tag Archives: pop culture

From Glee to tonight’s Grammy Awards, I deem this year: The Year of the Mash-Up.

Ahh, the (sometimes) genius of a great mash-up song–but I am hoping this year, my life will become a mash-up of sorts. I’m in need of massive change. I’m itching in my skin, bored with the routine and the recreation of the routine to shake up the previous one. I don’t care if there is a mash-up leading to a new job (which I’m really hoping for), or a mash-up in my romantic life (which I’m also hoping for)–I just need a mash-up of sorts, damn it!

1.The Help (audible edition). Though I could listen to storytelling podcasts like The Moth or David Sederis’ reading his own stories in only the way he can, I never thought I would like listening to books to tape. The Help changed my mind. I’m in the 10th hour and I don’t want it to end. A beautiful story of friendship and an intriguing look at 1962 Mississippi, The Help is easily one of the best books I’ve read (or in this case) listened to, in a long, long, time. I absolutely love the main characters: the two black maids Aibilnne and Winny, and 23-year-old white woman who interviews them for a book about their experiences as maids, Skeeter. They are all strong, thoughtful, independently minded, and sensitive human beings. These are women who are destined to become literary heros, at least in my mind.

3. The sparky Kelly Ripa look-a-like Det. Andrea Penoyer and the rest of girls of the TLC’s Police Women of Broward County. As a longtime fan of shows like COPS and it’s perfect counter-part Reno 911, this show has easily become a favorite. It has all the missing teeth, lack of clothing, and trash of COPS, plus crack whores, undercover drug busts, and women kicking ass during the day, but we also their vulnerability as they go home to their families at night.